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Suspiciously Similar Substitute / Video Games

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Suspiciously Similar Substitutes in Video Games.

  • ANNO: Mutationem: The game was originally developed to be an SCP Foundation work. It was revamped into an original property in order to avoid IP problems, while characters, such as The Reptile retained its design and is referred as The Varanus, just as Sigurros was renamed into Sigrid who also has Reality Warping powers. More specific characters in The Consortium are substitutes of the foundation as well; C is based on Dr. Clef, G is based on Dr. Gears, B is based on Dr. Bright, and K is based on Dr. Kondraki.
  • Call of Duty:
  • Devil May Cry:
    • In Devil May Cry 2 Lucia is this for Trish being a sexy demoness created by the Big Bad used to lure Dante before pulling a Heel–Face Turn to good. Even the climax has Lucia bound to a wall in a crucifixion pose by Arius much like Trish was by Mundus in the finale of DMC1. This all the more strange considering that Trish is in the game, albeit as a secret character.
    • Devil May Cry 4:
      • Santus is this for Arkham: a fanatical old mad man antagonist who is seemingly killed earlier on before revealing his true demon nature and tries using the power of Sparda before it blows up in his face. Like Arkham, Santus has a lot of Evil Cannot Comprehend Good about his character.
      • You can make a case of Credo being this for Vergil (who is absent from the story of 4). He’s a regal Aloof Older Brother with a more refined style of swordplay compared to the protagonist, has a strong sense of honour, cares for his family and provides the most memorable and cool boss fight in the game.
  • The Legend of Spyro: The first two games include the Manweersmalls, a species of short, technologically-adept anthropomorphic moles with French accents. They don't appear in The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon, where they're replaced by the Moles, also short, technologically-adept anthropomorphic moles with French accents, but who are nonetheless never referred to or identified with the Manweersmalls.
  • Monster Rancher 2:
    • Colt can be resumed as a twelve-year-old Holly with a tomboy hairstyle.
    • The Zuum, who is similar to the Dino from the first game. If you were to use the Slate command to import your Dino, it will be converted into a Zuum.
  • Tekken:
    • Roger Jr. (actually the unnamed mother) replaces Roger. Hwoarang replaces Baek (who then returns in Tekken 5 alongside his student). Jin Kazama replaces his father Kazuya (who then returns, Jin getting a different fighting style). Combot replacing Mokujin for Tekken 4. Devil Jin replacing Devil Kazuya and Angel (debatable; Devil Kazuya also functions as an alternate stance for Kazuya in Tag 2). Asuka replacing Jun Kazama. Christie replacing Eddy (who fully returned in Tekken 5; in 4 he was an alternate costume for Christie). Julia Chang replacing her foster mother Michelle Chang. Forrest Law replacing his father Marshall Law (who then re-replaces his son in the next game, Tekken 4). Each Jack-bot is the newest model (though apparently with the same mind transferred over). King dies before Tekken 3, and Armor King is killed before Tekken 4. Both Kings are replaced by their younger followers, and even the names remain unchanged. Kunimitsu retires after Tekken 2 and is replaced by her daughter, Kunimitsu II, in Tekken 7. Even Kuma that appears in Tekken and T2 dies of old age and is replaced by its pretty much identical child in Tekken 3. In general, many Tekken character replacements are so similar that if you are not familiar with storyline details, you won't even know someone is not the same as the original. This is justified on the basis that Tekken 3 takes place 19 years after the previous game and that some of the characters were attacked by Ogre.
    • Both Tag Tournament titles thrive on this trope by reuniting the majority of the collective roster across all preceding games, thus allowing the originals and their newer counterparts to fight side-by-side. Even stranger is the fact that certain older veterans have their ages frozen at/reversed to that of their last canonical appearance yet still interact with their successors as if they were their actual ages in the current storyline (see: Jun and Jin, Michelle and Julia).
    • Azazel is reminiscent of True Ogre, but much tougher.
  • The final boss of the original Bloody Roar was Uriko, a Brainwashed and Crazy girl who could transform into a monstrous chimera. After being rescued and undergoing a Redemption Demotion, her transformation was changed to a cute, anime-style Catgirl for the sequel. Bloody Roar 3 subsequently introduced a new chimera called Uranus as the Superboss, with her moves, transformation, and even certain elements of her design (such as her green hair) being copied from Uriko's original incarnation.
  • In Suikoden II we have Boris Wizen, who shares the Tengou Star with his father Ridley Wizen and will take his place if he dies in the Dunan Unification War. The player can indirectly decide who (s)he wants to keep: When Nanami asks you to run away in Tinto you can decide whether or not you want to do it. If you do, Ridley will be killed as a result and you will also see a few additional cutscenes, including the introduction of the new Kobold General. The only differences here are the looks and personalities.
  • Over time, Ace Attorney developed a series of recurring character archetypes, although no two characters truly feel the same.
    • In the beginning, the protagonist was Phoenix Wright, snarky, put-upon lawyer constantly at the mercy of strange witnesses. Apollo started out as Phoenix but more impulsive and hot-blooded, though he eventually diverges into his own character. The fifth game gives us Athena Cykes, a rookie attorney whose courtroom style fits early Phoenix Wright to a T, while her personality is much closer to the Genki Girl assistant role.
    • Phoenix had a young, cheerful, plucky female assistant with a mysterious and highly relevant familial history in the form of Maya. This was enforced with the updated rerelease of the first gamenote , which introduced Ema Skye, who deliberately shares a lot of personality, design, and story beats with Maya. Later, Trucy and Kay filled this role for Apollo and Edgeworth respectively.
    • Franziska was this to Edgeworth when first introduced — like him, she's a prickly, win-at-all-costs prosecutor. (Actually justified in her case, since they were raised and trained by the same man.) The succeeding prosecutors, though following Contrasting Sequel Antagonist in design, all tend to be obstructive, condescending, and have with a personal tie to the main characters (Klavier is the exception).
    • The series-opening prosecutor Winston Payne has been replaced by his brother Gaspen Payne and his English counterpart Prosecutor Flynch in Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. All three are spineless and pathetic warm-up bosses.
    • The Judge has been replaced by his Canadian brother and Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney introduced his English counterpart and the Labyrinthian Judge. Taken another step further with the Khura'in Judge in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice who is an offshoot of the original Judge, but is less likely to get intimidated and is more fair to the defense when they have proven their theories.
    • In the second Ace Attorney Investigations game, you meet a reporter called Nicole Swift in the first case who seems to be this for Lotta Hart. However, Lotta herself later shows up, and it turns out the two reporters know each other.
    • The culprits of the first two games' first cases were petty criminals (a burglar and a con artist, respectively) who impulsively killed their victims to cover up their own crimes, and ineptly tried to pin the murders on the victims' love interests. The main difference between the two is that the first game's first culprit acted polite until being pushed far enough, whereas the second game's first culprit is openly a Jerkass.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog:
    • Sonic Adventure introduced us to Gamma, a well-armed red and white humanoid "E-Series" Greek-letter-named robot created by Eggman, who over the course of the game decided to turn against Eggman. At the end of the game, Gamma died. A few years later, Sonic Heroes brought back a whole bunch of characters, adding no new ones... except Omega, a well-armed red and white humanoid E-Series Greek-letter-named robot created by Eggman who had decided to turn against Eggman. Hmm... On the other hand, they are radically different in terms of personality: while Gamma was a conflicted and ultimately tragic character, Omega is a borderline mechanical psychopath that wants to obliterate his former master (and everything he built) and then ultimately take over. And he talks like a Dalek.
    • Sonic Battle has a different Gamma substitute, "Chaos Gamma" — a mass-produced model based on Gamma without enough intelligence to rebel against its master.
    • Knuckles Chaotix began development as a game starring Sonic and Tails, both of whom were removed from the game early in development. While Tails' space in the character roster was never filled, Sonic's sprites were directly replaced with similarly posed ones for Mighty the Armadillo, an otherwise rarely-seen character who appeared along with Sonic in SegaSonic the Hedgehog.
    • In the Sonic Storybook Series, Merlina from Sonic and the Black Knight fills a similar role to Shahra from Sonic and the Secret Rings, both being young women with magical powers that brought Sonic into their respective worlds to defeat an evil force, and even serve as a guide of sorts. Then it becomes subverted with The Reveal that Merlina is the real Big Bad, albeit of understandable motives.
  • The Maniax Chronicle Edition of Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne chucks out Dante in exchange for the Shin Megami Tensei series's own Raidou Kuzunoha. The HD remaster brings both back, with the former as DLC.
  • Punch-Out!!:
    • The first print versions of the NES entry starred Mike Tyson as its final opponent. Eventually Nintendo's license to use Tyson's likeness in a game expired (and since he was no longer the undefeated world heavyweight champion, renewing the license was less desirable... and would become even less so when Tyson was convicted of rape a year later), so the 1990 reissue substituted Tyson with the fictional Mr. Dream, a white boxer who's exactly the same (he even has the same end-of-round quotes). The Wii installment instead decided to repurpose pre-existing black boxer Mr. Sandman as a Tyson pastiche.
    • The Wii installment has Disco Kid, originally an updated version of Kid Quick from the first arcade game. As the staff updated his design, he changed so radically that they decided it would be easier to make a different character out of him. His files on the disc are still labeled "kid_quick."
    • Piston Honda from the NES version was essentially a substitute for Piston Hurricane from the first arcade game. The SNES game brought back Piston Hurricane (along with other previously arcade-exclusive opponents), only to bring back Piston Honda (albeit spelled Piston Hondo) in the Wii installment.
  • Kratos and Zelos in Tales of Symphonia, with the latter replacing the former. They are almost identical in regards to combat: Kratos has slightly better stats, but Zelos has slightly different attack animations that make him a bit better at using combos, and their only real differences are titles and a single move they can learn.note  However, this is averted with their personalities: Kratos is a Stoic Mercenary who turns out to be an Enigmatic Minion for the Big Bad and Zelos is a comical on the outside Classical Anti-Hero and The Casanova, who seems to need babysitting a lot.
  • When Pey'j gets in trouble in Beyond Good & Evil, his place in the party is taken by Double H, the soldier. Again, they have completely different characters, but effectively the same function, and only show up together for a brief time in The Very Definitely Final Dungeon.
  • In the original Snatcher, the engineer Harry Benson dies. When it was reinvented as an RPG in SD Snatcher, Harry provides all the weapons and ammunition to Gillian. To make sure the player could still buy weapons and bullets after Harry's death, a new character, Geoff, was added as Harry's apprentice. After Harry dies, Geoff takes over the weapons store.
  • Pikmin 2: When your main Sidekick Louie goes missing after you complete the game's main mission, he gets replaced with the President of the Hocotate Shipping Company, who remains with you even after you rescue Louie.
  • Sakura Wars 2: Thou Shalt Not Die replaced Ayame Fujieda, the Sexy Mentor from the first game, with her younger sister Kaede (played by the same voice actress), since Ayame had Ascended To A Higher Plane Of Existence at the end of the first game.
  • The jump from Nintendo GameCube to Wii caused a few problems with the Naruto: Ultimate Ninja games, so some characters were left out of Clash of Ninja Revolution. Zabuza's replacement was the shark-swordsman Kisame Hoshigaki. This was probably for the better. In Japan, meanwhile, Sasuke was replaced by his brother Itachi.
  • Soul Series:
    • In the Soulcalibur games, Maxi replaces Li Long (from the prequel, Soul Edge) as the game's nunchaku user, after Li's defeat at the hands of Cervantes. Li has only returned as a bonus character in Soulcalibur III.
    • Cassandra replaces Sophitia in Soulcalibur II (though Sophitia can be unlocked in the home versions), and Yun-seong replaces Hwang in spirit and general appearance, although doesn't have exactly the same moves. It's also notable that in this game the unlockable character Assassin DOES have the same moves as Hwang, and his fellow unlockable Berserker has those of Rock, however neither of these characters are canon to the story and so were probably included due to fanservice (and their use in Story mode). Kilik replaces Seong Mi-na officially although both characters are still available, and his moves have become more unique by III.
    • In the Korean versions, Mitsurugi was replaced by Arthur, a Caucasian samurai with the same move set. He was then available in Soulcalibur III as a bonus character.
    • Olcadan in Soulcalibur III, as a replacement for Charade who was a replacement for Edge Master. Bonus points: each one is a Ditto Fighter, so they already act like other characters.
    • It's worth mentioning that when Soulcalibur was in development, Bandai Namco Entertainment wished to completely overhaul the roster and only include a couple of characters from Soul Edge/Blade. Eventually, however, all the characters barring Li Long and Han Myong (Seong Mi-na's father) returned for the home version (Soul Edge was renamed Inferno). Li Long returned later anyway. As a result, some of the characters in Soulcalibur start off closer to clone characters than they are originally (Kilik, Astaroth, etc.) but end up becoming different later on.
    • Soulcalibur V takes place about 17 years after IV, and has some of the main cast replaced by new characters, though each is given a sufficient explanation. Natsu replaces Taki, though she is Taki's apprentice. Yan Leixia is Xianghua's daughter. Even though she has sufficient reason to be a fighter in the game, there's no explanation given as to why Xianghua herself isn't playable. Xiba has Kilik's moveset, and the backstory reveals that he is the estranged son of Kilik and Xianghua, and half-brother of Leixia. Patroklos Alexander and Pyrrha Alexandra are the children of Sophitia, who sacrificed her life to save Pyrrha's when she was a child. Both characters have similar fighting styles to both Sophitia and Cassandra, and Pyrrha later becomes a direct copy of Sophitia's moveset later in the storyline. Cassandra herself isn't in the game because she was sucked into Astral Chaos after she was knocked unconscious by her sister in IV. Edge Master comes back from the original Soulcalibur, and Olcadan and Charade are nowhere to be found. He still uses every character's moveset. Kilik himself is still around, but he's an SNK Boss-turned-Secret Character who mimics all the male character's movesets, much like Edge Master.
  • Vice Project Doom: Your character's informant that they talk to at the end of each stage will leave partially through the game. A stand-in will fill in for her. You find out where your original informant went as the game progresses.
  • Each major entry in the Ape Escape series replaces the previous Kid Hero with a new one. In Ape Escape 2, Spike gets replaced by his cousin Jimmy (though he can be unlocked as a secret character). Jimmy gets replaced by Kei and Yumi in Ape Escape 3. Meanwhile, their aunt Aki replaces both the Professor and Natalie in their roles. Dr. Tomoki takes over Jake's role as Specter's dragon. However, all of them have distinct personalities.
  • The King of Fighters:
  • Street Fighter:
    • In Street Fighter, one of the opponents is Mike, a disgraced African-American boxer. Street Fighter II introduces Balrog, also a disgraced African-American boxer. What makes matters really confusing is that Balrog's name in the Japanese version is "M. Bison", which was meant to be short for "Mike Bison", so the series has two separate characters named Mike who are both disgraced African American boxers. It was thought for many years that the two characters were actually the same person, but Street Fighter II co-creator Akira Nishitani has made it clear that he never intended to the "Boxer" character to be Mike from the first game and has apologized for the confusion. Most guidebooks and even the Capcom Fighting Network website has separate character pages for each.
    • The arcade mode in Street Fighter V has six different versions themed around each game in the franchise. In the Street Fighter I themed arcade mode, Balrog is playable despite not being in the first game, since he's so similar to Mike. The ending even lampshades this, with Balrog having a dream where Mike is mistakenly given credit for his victory. Newcomer Zeku also appears in this mode as a substitute for Geki, the ninja opponent who has been Out of Focus since the first game.
    • In Street Fighter Alpha, Guile, the Air Force lieutenant seeking revenge for his dead comrade, is replaced with Charlie, another member of the Air Force. Though in-universe, it's the other way around; Alpha is a prequel to Street Fighter II, so it would thus make Guile a replacement for Charlie (and, in fact, Charlie is the "dead comrade" Guile is seeking to avenge in SFII).
    • Remy from Street Fighter III is a much less confusing example, using Guile/Charlie's moves but coming after them both in and out of the universe.
    • Also from Street Fighter III we have Urien, brother of Final Boss Gill. Visually, the only difference between the two are their colors and heads, and while their moves have enough difference in them to make them unique characters. it's very obvious that Urien was created to be a toned-down, playable, tournament legal Gill. Interestingly, the fact that he's an interesting character and an effective fighter in his own right has made him more popular than Gill, who has never been playable outside of console releases and has never been tournament legal.
    • In Street Fighter V, one of characters introduced in Season 3's is G. He's one of the brand new characters, but is suspiciously similar to Q from Street Fighter III. Not only his name, but some of his attacks look nearly identical to Q's and his Story costume gives him a trenchcoat, hat, and mask with very close colors. Both of their backstories are a complete mystery, so it's not confirmed how the two are related, but a popular theory is that G was Q before the Illuminati turn him Brainwashed and Crazy.
  • In Marvel vs. Capcom, the developers couldn't use Iron Man due to licensing issues, despite being previously featured in Marvel Super Heroes, so they simply recolored his sprite from that game to make War Machine. When Capcom was able to use Iron Man again for Marvel vs. Capcom 2, they gave War Machine the moveset of his "Hyper War Machine" counterpart from the previous game in order to distinguish him from Iron Man, who used War Machine's regular moveset from the previous game (which in turn, was based on Iron Man's move set from Marvel Super Heroes).
  • The heroes of Golden Axe III, Kain Grinder and Sarah Barn, look and fight similarly to Ax Battler and Tyris Flare, respectively (to the point that the English manual for the Virtual Console version refers to them as such). Sarah even gets Tyris' repertoire of fire magic. Gilius Thunderhead is the only character from the previous installments to return in that game, though not as a playable character.
  • Resident Evil:
    • Between Resident Evil 1.5 and Resident Evil 2, Elza Walker, John, and Linda were redesigned into/replaced by Claire Redfield, Robert Kendo, and Ada Wong, respectively.
    • The "Hooked Man" prototype of Resident Evil 4 had paranormally animated suits of armor, while the final version has Plagas-controlled armor suits, and Ashley replaces Sherry as the Damsel in Distress (ironically when a older Sherry reappears later in Resident Evil 6 she’s a dead ringer for Ashley).
    • In Resident Evil – Code: Veronica Steve Burnside is unmistakably a substitute for Leon Kennedy right down to the uncanny DiCaprio-Pretty Boy haircut and face as well as the cool ladies’s man personality (it appears Leon was going to be in CV originally before getting taken out and replaced with Steve). Probably the only big difference between them besides their backstories is that Steve has an overt romantic teasing with Claire something the Ada-focused Leon didn’t, though even that becomes moot when Leon has a Ship Tease with Claire in later titles anyway. It’s also likely that Capcom didn’t want to kill Leon off, so created Steve instead.
    • Resident Evil 3: Nemesis:
      • Carlos Oliveira can be seen as a substitute for Chris Redfield, being the green vest and grey pants wearing hunky commando and close partner of Jill Valentine. Carlos’s squad the U.B.C.S is also extremely similar to S.T.A.R.S filling in their Red Shirt Army role from the first game. The remake if anything heightens the similarities to Chris, darkening Carlos’s hair, giving him a similar outfit to what Chris wears in later games and even giving Carlos a Megaton Punch melee attack — much like what Chris has from RE5 onwards.
      • Nikolai Zinoviev is this for Albert Wesker being the Mole in Charge and Team Killer who at first appears affable before revealing his true colours to the heroes. Not to mention in one of the endings he can get killed by Nemesis very similar to how Wesker is struck down by the Tyrant.
    • Resident Evil Dead Aim protagonists Bruce McGivern (American serviceman) and Fong Ling (Chinese agent) are clear substitutes for Leon and Ada, due to the game originally going to be an early version of RE4 with said characters as the leads that was scrapped turned into a different game altogether. Fong Ling’s strong allusions to Ada are ironic though as she’s a spy hunter who despises backstabbers.
    • In Resident Evil: Revelations Parker Luciani is a stand-in for Barry Burton being The Big Guy with a manly beard and packing serious firepower. Word of God confirmed he was based directly on Barry. Also in the same game there’s Jessica Sherawat whose role is highly akin to Ada, being the Femme Fatale Spy who is highly flirtatious with The Hero (albeit Chris doesn’t respond to her in the way Leon that does with Ada).
    • Resident Evil 6:
      • Piers Nivans is in many ways this for Jill (who was Put on a Bus after 5) being Chris’s deeply trusted Old Friend that he’s known and worked with closely for years and go above and beyond to look after each other. Even losing all their squad mates and growing closer over it, echoes Chris and Jill being survivors of S.T.A.R.S together. Piers even gets infected and gets superpowers like Jill does albeit fatally in Piers’ case.
      • Helena Harper is an apparent substitute for Claire being the strong and caring female partner of Leon whose storyline is concerning the search for a missing sibling (Deborah) much like how Claire was searching for Chris in 2. That coupled with a physical resemblance and the knowledge that Claire was supposed to be in 6 before being taken out to be in Resident Evil: Revelations 2 only helps this.
      • Derek C. Simmons was this for Wesker (who was Killed Off for Real in 5) being the superpowered Large Ham Smug Snake Mad Scientist who’s been orchestrating events behind the scenes and has a Arch-Enemy rivalry with Leon much like Wesker with Chris. Even Simmons’ role as Ada’s boss is very similar to Wesker in 4.
      • Ustanak the Implacable Man of the game is by the most glaring example of this being a clear substitute for Nemesis right down to the Scary Teeth, Facial Horror, black clothing and metallic parts to his body. Like Nemesis, Ustanak has Nigh-Invulnerability and the only way to kill him for sure is to Attack Its Weak Point.
    • Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness: Shen Mei is almost suspiciously similar to Ada (so much so people initially thought she was Ada) being a Chinese-American Femme Fatale whom flirts with Leon but also treated sympathetically within the story. She lacks Ada’s main character Plot Armor however, getting killed off in the final episode.
  • From one Fire Emblem game to the next, half the cast will be this for the previous game. There's a set of archetypes that are well known in the fandom such as the two (occasionally three) cavaliers and the Jagen. More specific examples:
    • Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War: The game is divided into two halves, with a 17-years Time Skip in-between, because the cast of the second half are actually grown-up children born by the playable female characters during the first half. However, since this game features unit Permadeath and Relationship Values that determine if a character has kids (and by whom), it is possible for some or all potential mothers to die childless. So, to avoid disadvantaging the player too much, each child character has a replacement unit with slightly weaker stats but exactly the same role story-wise in the second half.
    • Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade — full circle, actually. Nils is the not so Spoony Bard in the introductory campaign, then he's replaced by Ninian, his sister. But then Ninian kicks the bucket, so Nils replaces her in the final battle.
    • Danved from Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn claims to be this to Devdan from its predecessor Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, but he isn't fooling anyone. Game mechanics treat them as the same person.
    • Fire Emblem Fates has Selena, Laslow, Odin, Asugi, Caeldori, and Rhajat, all based on Severa, Inigo, Owain, Gaius, Cordelia, and Tharja from Fire Emblem: Awakening. The first trio are the same characters they were allegedly based on, and the second trio are hinted to be reincarnations.
    • One of the series' most recurring classes is the Pegasus Knight, and it's been established that in-lore, Pegasi only allow women to ride them. How did Fire Emblem Fates accomplish the removal of gender restrictions for all classes while still keeping this iconic element? By introducing a new class called "Sky Knight" ("Tenma Knight" in Japanese), that is functionally identical to Pegasus Knight but doesn't ride an actual Pegasus.
  • In the PSP Game Jeanne d'Arc, Liane is burned at the stake in Jeanne's place, and replaced by Cuisses, who is, thankfully, virtually the same. (Because Liane was probably one of your healers)
  • Super Mario Bros.
    • Peach (who originally debuted in Super Mario Bros.) is a substitute for Pauline, the damsel in Donkey Kong, and she's one of the few examples to overshadow her predecessor. When they brought back Pauline in Donkey Kong '94, they had to dye her hair color to brown to distinguish her. Some Japanese fans mistakenly believe the DK94 version of Pauline to be a different character from the Pauline in the original 1981 arcade game, due to Pauline originally being named Lady in Japan.
    • In Super Mario Land:
      • Princess Daisy took up the "kidnapped princess" role Peach normally has in other Mario games. She looks so similar to Peach in this game that, for over a decade, many people thought that she was Peach, and that "Daisy" was just her nickname. By the GameCube era she was made into an individual character.
      • Some of the enemies are very similar to those of the other games: The Bombshell Koopas are exploding clones of Koopa Troopas, the Goombo enemy is based on the Goomba, and the Bullet Biff enemy is basically a miniature Bullet Bill.
    • The Volcano Lotuses of Super Mario World are the terrestrial substitutes of Lava Lotuses, aquatic plant enemies in Super Mario Bros. 3. The classic Goombas are also absent, replaced by Galoombas. The catch is that while it was made clear that they're a different species in Japan, the English translation called them Goombas despite their differences in appearance and gameplay mechanics from other Goombas in the series, until Super Mario 3D World corrected the misconception.
    • The Amps (round-shaped electric enemies that move in circles or around solid objects and platforms) have majorly replaced the Sparks from Donkey Kong Junior and Super Mario Bros. 2, as well as the Li'l Sparkies and Hotheads from Super Mario World (though these would return 33 years later in Super Mario Bros. Wonder).
    • Pewee Piranha and Digga Leg from Super Mario Galaxy 2 are suspiciously similar substitutes to Dino Piranha and Megaleg from the original Super Mario Galaxy. The former is even found in the same general point in the game as the latter, and defeated in nearly the same way. Dino Piranha and Peewee Piranha are also similar to Petey Piranha in Super Mario Sunshine being Piranha Plants acting as the first main boss of the game. Also, the Topmen from Galaxy are the same thing as the Bullies from Super Mario 64, both being enemies defeated by being pushed off the edge of the platform. They even both have nearly the same boss battles in the Mario Kart series!
    • Super Mario 3D World has Plessie who looks and acts like a giant Yoshi and has the same function as Dorrie from Super Mario 64.
    • The Broodals from Super Mario Odyssey are a lot like the Koopalings from the past games, with similar designs and attack patterns (albeit replacing the shell ducking part with them ducking into their hats). They're also a lot like Boom Boom and Pom Pom, who play similar mini-boss roles.
    • The partners in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door have many of the same abilities as the ones in the original game. Goombella and Koops have the same attacks and field abilities as Goombario and Kooper, except upgraded. Admiral Bobbery has the same field ability as Bombette (who is also a Bob-Omb) and Vivian and the baby Yoshi's field abilities are functionally identical to Bow and Parakarry's respectively. Ms. Mowz has similar hunting and defense piercing abilities as Watt but is less powerful while Flurrie is the only one with a unique field move but all of her attacks are the same as Lakilester's. Personality-wise they are all different, though Vivian and Lakilester both betray the Big Bad to join Mario.
    • Foreman Spike from Wrecking Crew was Mario's original rival, an irritable tough guy with crazy facial hair and a grudge. He was essentially a prototype version of Wario and Waluigi; Mario Kart DS even lampshades this by having Waluigi's default kart, the Gold Mantis, be Spike's steam shovel.
  • In Yoshi's Island DS, about half the bosses and a good few of the levels are nearly the same things as their equivalents from the first game. The Big Burt Bros are the most obvious; they're just two smaller versions of Burt the Bashful, killed the exact same way and found in a level with roughly the same layout. Others include Bungee Piranha (which is very much like Naval Piranha, complete with a castle designed like a sewer system) and Bowser himself, who acts as a near identical replacement to both Hookbill the Koopa and the giant version of his baby self.
  • Donkey Kong Country:
    • Diddy Kong replaces Donkey Kong Jr. as Donkey Kong's chimp Kid Sidekick. Diddy was originally meant to be a redesign of Jr., but Nintendo thought he looked too different.
    • In Donkey Kong 64, the playable characters Tiny and Chunky Kong are almost identical in form and function to Dixie and Kiddy Kong from Donkey Kong Country 2 and 3 respectively. The instruction booklet states they're the younger sister and older brother of the two. Tiny eventually grew out of this when she received an age-up.
  • In The Last Remnant, after Emma's Heroic Sacrifice, her daughter Emmy immediately comes to replace her as one of the Four Generals of Athlum.
  • Pokémon:
    • From Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire onward, Pokémon games feature Pokémon that are somewhat similar (or substitutes) of already existing Mons. For example, instead of Caterpie, Metapod, Butterfree, Weedle, Kakuna, and Beedrill as Bug-type Mons that evolve from worm-like creatures with a cocoon stage in the middle, we get Wurmple (essentially Weedle, with same stats and attacks) which can evolve into Silcoon, then Beautifly (similar to Butterfree) or Cascoon, then Dustox (a Poison-type like Beedrill, but a moth).
    • Also, Seviper replaces Ekans and Arbok in Hoenn games, due to the latter two not being native to Hoenn.
    • Most of the male protagonists are this to the original hero, Red. Ethan, Brendan, and Lucas take after his original design while Hilbert, Nate, and Calem take after his modern one. The latter two are also copies of Hilbert, most obviously with Nate. Rosa bears a strong resemblance to Hilda. Both protagonists of Pokémon Sun and Moon look like Calem and Serena from Pokémon X and Y.
    • And more obviously, each game features different monsters filling certain gameplay 'slots'; the Fire/Water/Grass starter trio, rodenty Normal-type and bird Flying-type Com Mons, and so on.
    • And every new generation introduces a new cute electric species with colored cheeks in an apparent attempt to replicate Pikachu (even in games where Pikachu can be caught!).
    • Also, there's Team Magma/Aqua stealing Team Rocket's spot as the antagonistic gang... then Galactic in Gen IV, Plasma in V, Flare in VI, and Skull in VII. The fact they always carry the "Team" prefix (or the "Dan" suffix in Japanese) doesn't help to hide this trope's invocation.
    • Pokémon Sun and Moon introduces Samson Oak, the cousin of Professor Samuel Oak. He looks almost identical to the good Prof, except with longer hair and a much darker tan.
  • While Final Fight 2, the straight-to-SNES sequel to Final Fight, kept Haggar from the original game, it also replaced Guy and Cody with Guy's sister-in-law Maki and South American swordsman Carlos respectively. While their techniques have many aesthetic differences from their predecessors (i.e.: Carlos uses his sword for his special attack instead of a spinning jump kick), they have the same effect and they even have the same abilities (Maki can do an off-the-wall jump kick, while Carlos can stab enemies with a knife without throwing it).
  • Lampshaded in the intro of MegaRace 2. Lance tells his assistant, "You're fired," then turns to the camera and says, "Just kidding, folks. You'll be seeing Charlene, or somebody surprisingly similar, throughout the show. Believe me, you won't tell the difference. I won't, and I should know."
  • Dead or Alive:
    • In Dead or Alive 2, Bayman from the original game was replaced by another character named Leon, who had the same moveset. When Bayman was brought back in later versions, he and Leon were given different movesets.
    • Dead Or Alive 4 had a Spartan, Nicole-458 as a guest character. While Nicole doesn't appear in later games, Dead Or Alive 5 Ultimate has Rachel from Ninja Gaiden who has more than a few of Nicole's moves.
  • Contra: Hard Corps for the Sega Genesis substituted the traditional Contra heroes of Bill Rizer and Lance Bean with four new characters. Among the cast includes Sheena Etranzi (a female commando), Brad Fang (a cyborg werewolf), Browny (a tiny robot), and Ray Poward (a standard male commando). Guess which of these characters is most like Bill Rizer (hint: it's not the woman, the werewolf, nor the robot)...
  • In Samurai Warriors, perky Ninja girl Kunoichi got replaced by Nene, the wife of Hideyoshi Toyotomi. They meet up briefly in a gaiden battle in Warriors Orochi 2, and Kunoichi lampshades said replacement: "Well, if it isn't my Spiritual Successor!" (And those are her exact words).
  • Final Fantasy:
    • Galuf from Final Fantasy V is replaced mid-game by his granddaughter Krile, who inherits all his experience, items, and job mastery. Averted in all other Final Fantasy games.
    • Trials in Final Fantasy XIV usually consist of a battle against a Primal, a Physical God made of Aether and summoned by a specific beast tribe. As the First, the setting of the Shadowbringers expansion, is too Aether-starved to allow Primal summoning, the expansion's trials use non-Primal entities with similar levels of power and connection to a specific race: Titania, the Light-corrupted king of The Fair Folk; Innocence, the most powerful of the Sin Eaters; and Hades, the true form of one of the leaders of the Ascians.
  • Kingdom Hearts:
    • Namine in Chain of Memories is remarkably similar to Kairi, even down to the Theme Naming ("nami" and "kai" both mean sea-related things). And, disturbingly, seems to be replacing her over the course of the game even in Sora's memories, despite having never been mentioned before. This all turns out to be part of the Organization's evil plot, and Namine's similarity to Kairi is because she's Kairi's Nobody.
    • According to Word of God, Roxas was made one of these on purpose in 358/2 days, due to worries that people might be uncomfortable playing through the whole game with a character who plays too differently from Sora. So his stats, abilities, and magical capabilities were Sora-fied. Roxas is also Sora's Nobody, which players of Kingdom Hearts II will already know about.
  • In The Legend of Zelda, everytime Link gets an Exposition Fairy who actually is a fairy, she will be this to the original Exposition Fairy herself, Navi. Although Tatl is considerably less helpful ("It's a bombchu! you don't know how to defeat them?")
  • BlazBlue:
    • Nu-13 was killed off at the end of BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger by falling into a dead time-stream. BlazBlue: Continuum Shift introduced Lambda-11, who re-uses Nu's sprites and rebalanced versions of Nu's moves. Justified because both characters are mass-produced robot clones.
    • Continuum Shift later reveals that Lambda-11 actually has Nu's soul. Then Lambda also dies in the end of Continuum Shift., and in BlazBlue: Chronophantasma, Nu-13 returns exactly the way she was in Calamity Trigger. Unfortunately for those who liked Lambda-11's character development, thanks to Continuum Shift's True End, is null and void. Because you can hardly carry that kind of stuff onwards when you're a cyborg and your brain gets reset to factory settings thanks to being destroyed, and then self-regenerated. Then Lambda came back in Extend, inheriting Nu's Luna Form half moves and effectively pushing Lambda out of this trope and into being a Moveset Clone coexisitng alongside Nu.
  • In Project Justice, Large and in Charge school principal Raizo doesn't make a playable appearance, the storyline explanation being that he was hospitalized thanks to an assassination attempt on his life. When that assassin (Kurow) becomes playable, his movelist is Raizo's own, with a few completely new moves thrown in to differentiate the two.
  • The Legend of Dragoon replaces Lavitz with Albert after the former's death and also replaces Shana with Miranda later on. Functionally, they're almost identical, having the same additions and spells with a few minor traits.
  • In Baldur's Gate 2, Imoen, a red-haired human thief/mage is captured early in the game. Luckily, Nalia, a red-haired human thief/mage is one of the first NPCs encountered afterwards. In terms of party utility, Yoshimo also counts as Imoen's substitute. He is also a thief-type class, becomes available shortly before the need for replacement appears and right after he becomes unavailable, the original character returns.
  • In the Dragon Age series:
    • The late-game Mutually Exclusive Party Members in Dragon Age: Origins, Alistair and Teyrn Loghain, are both Stone Wall-type Grey Warden warriors, making them almost identical gameplay-wise (though their personalities are markedly different).
    • Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening features a snarky, bitchy, forest-dwelling, human-hating mage as a party member. No, Morrigan doesn't make a comeback; it's only Velanna.
    • Discussed and Subverted in Dragon Age: Inquisition. In party banter, Varric quickly pegs Blackwall as the party's goody-two-shoes and an older version of Sebastian Vael. As party banter continues and Blackwall's personal quest plays out, it is clear that Blackwall and Sebastian's backstories and motivations are completely different. Varric first starts to suspect this when Blackwall points out innuendo that Sebastian would have been completely oblivious to.
  • EarthBound (1994) has Ness, who is Ninten from the first game with a backpack; Paula, who is Ana with a different hairstyle; and Jeff, who is Lloyd with a school uniform. Somewhat done in Mother 3 with Lucas taking over Ninten and Ness's roles, except he looks completely different, but completely averted with Kumatora, who is completely unlike Paula and Ana, except for somewhat similar PSI.
  • Mortal Kombat:
    • After the supposed death of the four-armed Shokan sub-boss Goro in the first game, Mortal Kombat II introduced Kintaro, another four-armed Shokan sub-boss. It is likely for this reason that Kintaro is rarely used in adaptations of the franchise, as the comics, TV shows and movies tend to simply use the more popular Goro instead.
    • In Mortal Kombat 4, Reiko replaced Noob Saibot early in development, as Noob's character model was considered too dark by playtesters, although Noob would show up in the console versions as a hidden fighter. Likewise Jarek was originally planned to be Kano, but was redesigned into a new character with barely any change in his move set, when the developers felt that there were not enough new fighters in the roster.
    • Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance introduced Li Mei, a female Outworld martial artist with a very similar aesthetic to Mileena. Like Mileena, Li Mei wore purple and fought with a pair of sai. Tellingly, Li Mei discarded the sai in favor of a sword when when Mileena returned in Mortal Kombat: Deception, though she retained the purple color scheme and Mileena's outfit was pink instead.
    • Deception introduced Kira, a Black Dragon member whose gameplay was borrowed almost entirely from Kano and Sonya. Like Kano, she used knives, a Rolling Attack and the Xing Yi fighting style, while her Kiss of Death move and Kenpo fighting style were taken from Sonya.
  • Robo from Chrono Trigger => Grobyc from Chrono Cross — they don't look nor sound anything alike, but fill the same character archetype (read "Grobyc" backward), complete with lack of magical ability — Robo is completely magic-inert (though lasers and tech-generated electricity count as Shadow attacks), while Grobyc can cast magic but sucks at it and has one of the weakest Element grids.
  • Mass Effect
    • Mass Effect 2 can have this depending on the player's actions in Mass Effect. If Wrex survived the first game, he will appear on Tuchanka leading his clan. If he was killed, it will be his brother Wreav, offering the same quests and exposition (although his personality is notably different). Likewise, if you saved the colony of Zhu's Hope but let Shiala die, an unnamed human colonist will appear in her place on Illium to offer the same quest.
    • Because the Geth don't play nearly as big a role in Mass Effect 2 — and they undergo Character Development to make them seem much less villainous — the various enemy factions' "mech" units end up filling their old roles as disposable robotic adversaries. The weak LOKI mechs are analogous to the basic Geth troopers, the quick quadrupedal FENRIR mechs are analogous to Geth Stalkers, and the giant lumbering YMIR mechs are analogous to Geth Primes.
    • Similarly, the plot of the first game wrapped up the story appearances of the rachni, so a random, generic species called the Klixen suddenly showed up in the sequel, being this to Rachni Soldiers (albeit mostly mechanically; you'd never think they were the same species if you got a good look at them side by side). In fact, during Grunt's Rite of Passage the Klixen are used during the segment that represents the Rachni Wars as convenient stand-ins.
    • To a degree, Miranda Lawson and Jacob Taylor act as substitutes to Ashley Williams and Kaidan Alenko, who get relegated to a brief cameo in the second game depending on which one survived the first game. Just like Ashley and Kaidan, they serve as Shepard's default squad-mates and possible human love interests (depending on Shepard's gender), one is a sassy human woman with a noticeable resentment of aliens, and the other is a loyal human man with a talent for biotics and a long history in the military. Note that they grow past their Suspiciously Similar Substitute status as they undergo Character Development, and either Kaidan or Ashley ultimately returns for a larger role in the third game.
    • In the third game, there are quite a few of these, since any or all of your squad can die in 2 if you're not careful. Mordin is replaced by another salarian named Padok Wiks (who appears regardless, but quickly vanishes if Mordin is still alive), Grunt is replaced by a generic krogan soldier, Miranda is replaced by her sister Oriana, Tali is replaced by Admiral Xen on the Dreadnought and Admiral Raan on Rannoch, and Legion is replaced by...a backup copy of itself (who doesn't have memory of Shepard). Garrus, Jacob, Jack, Zaeed, Kasumi, Samara, and Thane simply have their parts skipped if they died. Joker will even insist on referring to Padok as "Not-Mordin". The lampshading is even more blatant with the one for Legion. Characters keep calling it "Legion", only for it to inevitably reply "We are not Legion". In most of those cases, the outcomes of various situations will be different with the substitutes than with the originals, often to the player's detriment. It is notably impossible to avert the Genocide Dilemma between the quarians and geth unless both Tali and Legion are alive.
    • The most extreme example is the original Citadel Council. If left to die in Mass Effect 1, they are replaced in Mass Effect 3 by a "new" Council that uses slightly different models but mostly the same dialogue. Although, notably, the replacement salarian councilor is female, and the one time Udina calls them by their personal names — the only instance they're named in all three games — the names are different for the old and new Council. Notably, the replacement turian councillor, Quentius, is far less opposed towards the idea of the races uniting their forces rather than focusing on defending themselves compared to his predecessor, "Ah yes, Reapers" Sparatus.
    • Mass Effect: Andromeda introduces a whole new set of characters, but many of the trilogy's archetypes still show up in a similar fashion. Director Tann assumes Donnel Udina's role as the primary Obstructive Bureaucrat, Nakmor Drack takes over from Urdnot Wrex as the resident shotgun-wielding krogan veteran warrior, Liam Costa is the game's generic black guy that Jacob Taylor was for ME 2 and 3, and so on. The kett share way many similarities with the Reapers both in gameplay and motivations.
  • Anarchy Reigns gives us the Black Baron, former grand champion of the Varrigan City DeathWatch. Oh wait, no, that's actually the Blacker Baron, a cyborg pimp who acts and fights just like the blackface battler.
  • Professor Layton:
  • Rena Hayami, the protagonist of R: Racing Evolution, a simulation spinoff of the Ridge Racer series, bears a resemblance to Reiko Nagase from the main series.
  • In World of Warcraft:
    • When the Zul'Aman instance was retooled from a 10-man Level 70 raid to a 5-man Level 85 Heroic dungeon, the final boss, Zul'Jin, being canonically dead as of Cataclysm, was replaced by Daakara the Invincible. While Zul'jin started as a troll, then turned into a bear, eagle, lynx and dragonhawk in turn each time players took off 20% health, Daakara started as a troll, then switched to either a bear then an eagle, or a lynx then a dragonhawk, with mostly similar mechanics to Zul'jin's versions of the forms.
    • In the Blackrock Depths instance, if players completed the quest to rescue Princess Moira from Dagran Thaurissan, she would be replaced by a Priestess of Thaurissan on subsequent encounters, who would also heal Dagran.
    • In the updated version of Scarlet Monastery for Mists of Pandaria, Renault Mograine, having been killed by the spirit of his father in the Ashbringer event is replaced by Scarlet Commander Durand as Whitemane's partner in the Dual Boss battle.
  • Saints Row: The Third: When Gat dies in the second mission, Shaundi, previously the Fun Personified One of the Boys character from the second game, becomes the boss's borderline psychotic ally while Pierce, formerly the Ambiguously Gay Butt-Monkey, takes on Gat's role as the Boss's right-hand man. While Pierce got to keep his personality, Shaundi had little to nothing of her former self left. Does it count as SSS if the replacement was an already existing character?
  • Saints Row IV reveals Shaundi from Saints Row 2 and Shaundi from Saints Row the Third as being a character in the game, so Shaundi from Saints Row the Third is actually a SSS for Gat personality-wise, and a SSS for Shaundi from Saints Row 2 name wise.
  • Grobnar Gnomehands in Neverwinter Nights 2 shares several qualities with Deekin Scalesinger from the expansion packs to the first game, being an annoying, diminutive Spoony Bard.
  • Super Robot Wars:
    • In Super Robot Wars 4, gamers are introduced to three new units — the Gespenst, which resembles GMs, the Huckebein, which resembles a Gundam and the Grungust, which is one part Mazinger Z, one part Daitarn 3. They act as this trope once they make the jump to Super Robot Wars: Original Generation.
    • Sunrise, the studio that owns Gundam, complained about the Huckebein seriesnote . When Second Original Generations came around, an enemy character deliberately destroys the entire Huckebein line (which were all conveniently gathered in one place and vulnerable), and they're replaced by the Exbein, which is literally nothing but the old Huckebein Mk-III with a less Gundam-like face. After this incident, The Federation simply decides to stop making Huckebeins.
    • And then it comes full circle with the Exbein, in Original Generation 3, becoming the next step in the Huckebein development. After the Mk-III, not in spite of. This made anime continuity all but impossible for most writers out there.
  • In Rhythm Heaven, the Choir Boys from Glee Club were Ensemble Darkhorses, so for Rhythm Heaven Fever, the mascot Marshal was based on their design, with Cam and Miss Ribbon added to make the use of this trope less obvious.
  • If you saw RUF listed in a game's car lineup, it was likely there would be no Porsches in the game. This was due to Electronic Arts holding exclusive rights to the Porsche brand in videogames.
    • This began with 2000's Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed. RUF are considered a manufacturer due to them building their cars from the ground-up with their own parts and materials, instead of merely rebadging a ready-made car. Their models are mostly based on and resemble Porsche vehicles. It is the resemblance that makes them a perfect candidate for a stand-in. The original cars RUF had manufactured were R50 concept and CTR3, which aren't based on any existing Porsche platforms.
    • The Forza series featured Porsche in Motorsport 3, but when Motorsport 4 came around, Porsche was totally absent due to meddling from Electronic Arts, with only a trio of RUF 911s replacing the 20+ Porsches missing. An expansion pack was later released which re-added Porsche, though Porsches were not featured in any other DLC. When Forza Horizon came out, Porsche was, yet again, absent.
    • One exception was Midnight Club 3, which featured Gemballa rather than RUF as its roundabout way of getting Porsche and even Ferrari into the game.
    • The contract for the exclusive rights ended in 2016, probably one of the reasons being Dieselgate scandal that hard-hit Porschenote  that year. Porsche cars are now featured in more non-EA racing games, such as Project CARS 2, Gran Turismo Sport, The Crew, Asphalt 9: Legends, as well as Forza's most recent titles, Horizon 3 and Motorsport 7. This also means that RUFs will see sharply reduced video game presence from now on.
    • Assetto Corsa features both RUF and Porsche because the game was still receiving content additions by the time the exclusive rights contract ended as detailed above. The RUF is a base game content while the Porsche is a DLC.
  • Driver: San Francisco in addition to the usual Ruf business features the stupidly rare Aston Martin Cygnet, presumably to have a Japanese compact like the Toyota iQ it's based on (Toyota does not allow licensing its vehicles outside of games with closed tracks).
  • FEAR 2: Project Origin has this in the form of Redd Jankowski, brother of Spencer from the first game, who also has the same voice actor. Both are killed early on in the story.
  • Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror's Red Jack is this to Anton Girdeux from the first game. Both are their respective games' first proper boss, are armed with oversized flamethrowers, and Immune to Bullets outside of their fuel tank backpacks.
  • Silent Hill 2 introduced Pyramid Head, perhaps the most iconic monster in the entire Silent Hill franchise. As a result, similar creatures have appeared in several other games:
    • Silent Hill: Origins has The Butcher, who even carries an oversized cleaver in place of Pyramid Head's iconic Great Knife.
    • Meanwhile, something very much like Pyramid Head appears in Silent Hill: Homecoming, though it's unclear if this is actually Pyramid Head or something that looks like Pyramid Head, but has a different name.
    • Silent Hill: Downpour has a hulking fiend called the Bogeyman.
  • The Walking Dead (Telltale): Jane in Season 2 is this to Molly in Season 1. Both are tough female survivors with an inclination towards stealth and dirty fighting, both have a loner attitude brought on by losing younger sisters in tragic circumstances, both have extremely pragmatic and somewhat ruthless attitudes towards survival that raise more than a few eyebrows, and both only stay with the party for a while before leaving due to personal reasons, though Jane returns at the beginning of the final episode of the season and plays a major role in the ending.
  • In Time Crisis 2, Christie fills the role of the red-dressed Damsel in Distress Rachel from the first game, down to having the same voice actress, Lynn Harris.
  • Persona:
    • Yosuke Hanamura from Persona 4 is this to Junpei Iori from Persona 3. They're both of the Magician Arcana, and both the first to join the protagonist's party. They also both transferred to the school the year prior, thus bond with the New Transfer Student protagonist because they know what it's like being the new guy. And finally, they both are a Loveable Sex Maniac, despite having a canon love interest who dies as part of the storyline.
    • Yusuke Kitagawa from Persona 5 is this to Jun Kurosu from Persona 2. Not only is Yusuke's character design basically a copy of Jun's, but they both have troubled upbringings that involve being abandoned by their mothers, as well as great interest in beauty.
    • Sojiro Sakura from Persona 5 is this to Ryotaro Dojima from Persona 4. Both of them take in the protagonist due to being connected to their parents (respectively as a friend of the protagonist's parents and as the mother's younger brother), have a daughter who factors into the plot, and both represent the Hierophant Arcana.
    • Goro Akechi from Persona 5 is a dead ringer for Persona 4's Naoto Shirogane. Like the latter, he's a Kid Detective initially at odds with the party, and the last character to join the party; he specializes in light, dark, and almighty spells. He also happens to be the inheritor of Naoto's Red Baron title, the Detective Prince. And after The Reveal, he becomes one for Persona 4's Tohru Adachi, being a Detective Mole and a Dark Messiah who is half of a pair of Dueling Messiahs with the protagonist; his victory spells the removal of free will, and he is redeemed after you beat the ever-loving shit out of him. Even their last names sound similar.
    • Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth character, Rei, has a lot of similarities to Maki Sonomura from Persona. Both are sickly girls who are drawn into a false paradise that they created as a way to deal with their nihilism.
    • In Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth, Hikari has similarities to Futaba Sakura from Persona 5. Both are teenage girls with severely traumatic pasts who start the game as shut-ins with no social skills, and you have to help them work through their problems so you can draw them out of their shells. Futaba even bonds with Hikari due to their similarities.
    • In Persona 5 Strikers, once you reach Kyoto and learn about Zenkichi Hasegawa's personal life, he becomes one for Persona 4's Ryotaro Dojima. Both men are police detectives whose wives were killed in hit and runs, and both men have extremely strained relationships with their young daughters as a result of their inability to catch the culprits. Both young daughters also deeply idolize their respective player characters. Zenkichi is also associated with the Priest arcana, which is the Japanese term for the Thoth deck equivalent of Dojima's Hierophant arcana.
  • In Tales of Zestiria, Zaveid takes over Dezel's role in battle when the latter dies. Zaveid even slips on Dezel's hat.
  • Radia Senki Reimeihen:
    • Party member Midea has identical stats and techs to Saria, a prior party member who leaves after being revealed as The Mole. In fact, she joins with exactly as much experience as Saria had and with all of the techs Saria had learned.
    • An odd example happens also with Leorina. She replaces Haman for a while, and despite having a projectile attack, she uses Haman's AI and thus always attempts to attack enemies in melee. A peculiar and amusing glitch can result in her sprite turning into Haman's whenever the party plays dead.
  • Golden Sun: The second game begins with the characters the previous game had been pursuing. While Felix and Sheba have different personalities from their predecessors, their classes are functionally identical- Isaac and Felix are both Squires, while Ivan and Sheba are both Seers. However, their weapon choices are a little different, as Jenna has Ivan's staves and light swords while Sheba takes Mia's staves and maces and Piers goes for the heavy weapons Isaac, Garet, and Felix all use. And in Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, the tradition continues with Matthew and Tyrell, who take their respective fathers' classes (Isaac and Garet) and are both physically dead ringers for them. Karis and Rief also play identically to their parents, but have appearances that differ somewhat (Rief) to radically (Karis).
  • Best Fiends dropped the Guest Fighter Labbit in the game's Easter 2017 update. He was replaced by Rascal the Easter Bunny, who has all the same abilities as Labbit and was automatically given to anyone who'd already unlocked Labbit. Any progress made on Labbit also carried over to Rascal, so if your Labbit had gotten up to Level 7, you automatically got a Level 7 Rascal. Developer Seriously could have debuted any new character any way they wished, but they went for a character who not only bears a slight resemblance on his own but also came to possess all the same powers as Labbit, suggesting Labbit was cut due to an expired licensing agreement or other issues. It also came without warning or, at least initially, explanation.
  • Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony takes place in the Academy for Gifted Juveniles, a school for talented youth that's highly similar to Hope's Peak Academy, the setting of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, as well as a major part of the eponymous Hope's Peak Saga (Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls and Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School). It turns out that the Academy for Gifted Juveniles is Hope's Peak, or at least, the students were meant to think that it was- it's complicated.
  • In Star Wars: The Old Republic: Knights of the Fallen Empire, bringing Khem Val back would be problematic for non-Sith Inquisitor Outlanders due to the fact that his story has two vastly different endings, so players can instead recruit a different Dashade, Ak'ghal Usar. Equipment that previously was exclusive to Khem was changed to require a Dashade, so it can be used by Ak'ghal as well, and the two share most of the same gift reactions.
  • Monster Hunter:
    • Monster Hunter 3 (Tri):
      • Some of the monsters that debuted in the game are similar in appearance and behavior to monsters from the previous two generations. Gigginox to Khezu (both being pale-skinned monsters that lurk within caves and cold areas, though the former relies on poison attacks while the latter relies on electric ones), Qurupeco to Yian Kut-Ku (both being Bird Wyverns that attack with fireballs), Great Jaggi to Velocidrome (both being standard theropod Bird Wyverns that rely on the assistance of their smaller bethren), Great Baggi to Giadrome (both being theropod Bird Wyverns that live in cold regions). Great Jaggi and Velocidrome appeared together in 4 and 4 Ultimate, averting the trope with them.
      • The Updated Re-release Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate introduces Dire Miralis, the third generation alternative to Fatalis from the previous two.
    • Monster Hunter Portable 3rd removed the underwater gameplay from Tri, the most water-dependant monsters were replaced by similar, land-dwelling monsters: Gobul by Nibelsnarf (large Leviathans with wide maws), Lagiacrus by Zinogre (electric monsters that also serve as flagship monsters for their respective games of origin), Ceadeus by Amatsu (sacred Elder Dragons with white fur that rely on water attacks). It also saw the debut of Great Wroggi (a distant relative of the poison-filled Iodrome), and Baleful Gigginox (a subspecies of Gigginox that does use electricity, just like Khezu). Gobul, Nibelsnarf, Lagiacrus and Zinogre all appear together in 3 Ultimate, averting the trope with them.
    • Monster Hunter 4: The game replaces Jhen Mohran from the third generation to Dah'ren Mohran, whose only true difference is that it has one tusk instead of two. It also introduced a class substitute of the Leviathans in the form of Snake Wyverns (the re-classified Remobra from previous games, the debuting Najarala and later its Tidal subspecies in 4 Ultimate). Generations features both Leviathans and Snake Wyverns, averting the trope with them.
    • Monster Hunter: World features Bazelgeuse, a highly territorial Flying Wyvern with short temper. It has a lot in common with, and in practice is the successor of, Seregios from 4 Ultimate. Both Bazelgeuse and Seregios would meet four years later in Monster Hunter: Rise Sunbreak, averting the trope in their case.
    • Monster Hunter: Rise: The Apex monsters share many traits, such as attacks and appearance, with the Deviants from Monster Hunter Generations. Apex Arzuros stands in for Redhelm Arzuros, Apex Diablos stands in for Bloodbath Diablos, and so on. Both types of monsters are also fought in special hunting quests: Special Permit quests for Deviants and Rampage quests for Apexes (though a post-release update for Rise added standard quests for the Apexes as well, unlocked after completing their Rampage quests at least once each). The expansion Sunbreak has an example on its own with Magma Almudron which, despite being the subspecies of Almudron, is more comparable in behavior and mobility to the lava-dwelling Agnaktor from past games.
  • For balancing purposes, Splatoon 2 did away with every single Special Weapon from the previous game and replaced them with new ones. Of course, several of these new weapons bear a striking resemblance to older ones:
    • The Bomb Launcher, like the Bomb Rush before it, allows the user to throw an unlimited number of bombs for a short period of time. The only major change made to it is that it now lets you throw a different type of bomb than your Sub Weapon. The Bomb Launcher even plays a jingle of Bomb Rush Blush while active!
    • The Ink Armor acts much like a Nerf to the first game's Bubbler. While the Bubbler provided a temporary bubble shield to you and any teammates immediately nearby that blocked any and all damage until it runs out, Ink Armor applies a temporary ink shield to all your teammates that blocks damage to players, but breaks after taking 30 or more damage.
    • Tenta Missiles function similarly to the first game's powerful Inkstrike. Rather than calling down a single destructive missile over your enemies, it fires off multiple smaller homing missiles. Likewise, the first game's Octostriker enemy received its own Suspiciously Similar Substitute in the Octo Expansion's Missile Octocopter.
  • Etrian Odyssey:
    • Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City: Since the game replaces all classes from the first two games, some of the new ones inherit taks and skill trees that are very reminiscent of those from past classes: Hoplites (standing in for Protectors), Arbalists (standing in for Gunners), Farmers (standing in for Survivalists), etc.
    • Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan: Boiling Lizard is nearly identical to Salamander from Heroes of Lagaard and its Untold remake. Both are fire-type bosses that, prior to fight, have to be properly approached (which requires careful planning). They also have aids during the battle (Salamander summons its babies, Boiling Lizard expels red-hot scales), and can also attack violently with their tails. Interestingly, both of them appear in Nexus, and in the same dungeon at that (Golden Lair, originally from Boiling Lizard's home game).
    • Etrian Odyssey V: Beyond the Myth: Dryad is the successor of Alraune from the first two games and their respective Untold remakes. Both are plant women with exceptional power that serve as Optional Bosses.
  • Star Wars: The Clone Wars has Cydon Prax, Dooku's new bounty hunter who replaced Jango Fett.
  • Downplayed in Clam Man 2: Open Mic. The first game had a Cheerful Child turtle named Natalya. While Natalya still appears in Open Mic, she has gotten older and is now a less-innocent (though still well-meaning) teenager. Fortunately, the game introduces a new Cheerful Child character, a stingray named Niharika, in her place.
  • The Fangs for Hire in Far Cry 5 are an Australian cattle dog named Boomer, a grizzly bear named Cheeseburger, and a mountain lion called Peaches. In Far Cry: New Dawn, which takes place 17 years later, Boomer and Cheeseburger are replaced by an Akita Inu called Timber and a wild boar named Horatio, most likely because Boomer and Cheeseburger are both long dead. Only Peaches doesn't get a Suspiciously Similar Substitute.
  • The Sixth Lostbelt in Fate/Grand Order introduces the Calamities, destructive entities born from the evils of the Fairies that inhabit the British Lostbelt. Given their nature as beasts of the apocalypse and how they originate from the evils of the world's inhabitants, they seem to be the fairy version of the Evils of Humanity that have shown up throughout the game's main story. The major difference between the two is that, while the Counter Force summons Grand Servants to oppose the beasts so that the world can keep on existing, the Calamities are spawned by the world to try and abort the existence of the Lostbelt because the crimes of the fairies are just that heinous and unforgivable.
  • Crush Crush initially had the main character of Yandere Simulator as one of the ensemble of potential love interests. Following accusations of sexual misconduct and witness tampering towards a 16-year old girl against that game's developer YandereDev in September 2023 however, Sad Panda Studios, in a December 2023 update, replaced her with the original character Ayeka, with a similar appearance and the same voicelines.
  • Metro Exodus has some particular examples including:
    • Krest. He is very similar to Pavel Morozov, being that both act as nice companions to Artyom, are bald-headed characters and they are both portrayed by the same actor (both in English and in Japanese by Mark Ivanir and Hiroki Goto, respectively). The only big difference is that Krest is the Good Counterpart to Pavel, who does not betray Artyom out of belief for a political faction, and Krest is a mechanic on the run from Silantius' cult rather than a full-on soldier from a communist faction unlike Pavel.
    • The Master of the Forest. It bears a very similar resemblance to the Bear that was seen in Last Light as they are solitary mutants that both reside above the surface. However, the Last Light Bear is a Non-Malicious Monster who only protects her two cubs and attacks Artyom for that very reason, while the Master of the Forest is a vicious predator who attacks anything on sight, be it Artyom, the Pirates or the Pioneers.
    • The Blind Ones. It is very similar to the Librarian as both of them are giant hulking creatures with a simian biology roaming around public institutions, as well as them having human-like intelligence. However, unlike the Librarians who are non-hostile creatures but can be hostile to Artyom when provoked, the Blind Ones are creatures who have Psychic Powers and are blind like their name, albeit they use their sense of smell to catch Artyom, and will prey at Artyom when his scent is close to them.
  • Quite a few characters from Octopath Traveler II use characters from the original, and sometimes its mobile prequel, as a template.
    • Al, the NPC you meet after completing your protagonist's first chapter (or second, if you chose Osvald), is Kit's equivalent. He introduces sidequests, reappears throughout the game, and his chain of sidequests culminates in a fight against Galdera.
    • Ochette's route: The Dark Entity is this for Redeye. Just like Redeye, it's an unholy abomination that appears in the Hunter's route and used to be human. The difference is that it's a Starter Villain, whereas Redeye was an Arc Villain.
    • Throné Anguis' route:
      • Pirro has quite a bit in common with Yusufa. He grew up with Throné in an abusive environment, is her best friend, and is deceased by the end of her first chapter. The main difference is that, instead of being directly murdered by Mother and Father, he is killed by Throné in self-defense after Mother and Father set them up, along with Scaracci, to kill each other to determine who is worthy of succeeding them.
      • Both Mother and Father have a lot in common with Helgenish. They all took in girls who are one of the protagonists, but rather than raise them with genuine love and care, they made them do a lot of dirty work; and just like Helgenish, they are nothing more than lackeys to the true leader of the Blacksnakes, Claude. Mother in particular fulfills the role of a Helgenish substitute, since she's a sociopath, dresses in red and black, and has no redeeming qualities, unlike Father, who is a Death Seeker with a Dark and Troubled Past and genuinely loves Throné in spite of their twisted relationship.
      • Claude is this for Simeon. Just like Simeon, they are the Arc Villain of the darkest story, are the founder and leader of a criminal organization, have white hair, and are a twisted Sadist who have caused no end of misery to their victims and relish every single moment of it. They manage to be even worse than Simeon because most of their victims are his own biological children.
    • Osvald V. Vanstein's route:
    • Temenos Mistral's route:
      • Pontiff Jörg is this for Archbishop Josef. Just like Josef, he is a high-ranking member of the Order of the Sacred Flame who took in an orphaned child and raised them lovingly, and is murdered by a major antagonist during the Cleric's route.
      • Felvarg is this for Hroðvitnir. Both are wolves fought during the Cleric's route, though Felvarg has more relevance to the story than Hroðvitnir, being the beast that was sicced on Pontiff Jörg by Vados.
      • Deputy Cubaryi has quite a bit in common with Headmaster Yvon. She's introduced in Chapter 1, is in a position of power, has a tense relationship with her corresponding protagonist, was already unpleasant before she is revealed to be evil in Chapter 3, is The Dragon and Chapter 3 boss of her corresponding protagonist's arc, and tries to kill someone close to her corresponding protagonist for knowing too much. The difference is that she and Kaldena succeed in killing Crick, whereas Yvon failed to kill Therese.
      • Ort Edgeworth becomes this for Crick after the latter's murder. He even uses, and can teach Hikari, the same Sacred Slash skill as Crick.
    • Hikari Ku's route: General Mugen borrows a lot from both Werner and Pardis III. Like Werner, he's the Arc Villain of the Warrior's route and is a brutal warlord who uses his strength to oppress the weak. Like Pardis III, he also usurps the throne from its rightful heir, extends his cruelty to his own family, plans on plunging the world into war to satisfy his boundless ambitions, and transforms into an abomination for his final battle.
    • The leader of the Moonshade Order, Arcanette/Mindt, manages to be this for Lyblac, Mattias, Lucia and Ceraphina all at once.
      • Like Lyblac, she is an outwardly lovely woman who has long hair, seeks to resurrect a God of Evil, manipulates and murders others to achieve this, appears as an unassuming minor NPC before a few red flags indicate greater relevance, and has an supernaturally long lifespan.
      • She takes advantage of Tanzy's grief after losing her husband to manipulate her into becoming her pawn by pretending to care about her, which is eerily similar to how Mattias convinced Lianna to abandon the teachings of the Sacred Flame and join his cult by telling her that he can resurrect her recently-deceased father, Archbishop Josef.
      • She uses Kaldena and then callously disposes of her once she is no longer useful, similiar to Lucia's manipulation of Yvon. She and Lucia are also the Arc Villains of routes whose protagonists travel to solve a mystery.
      • Like Ceraphina, she poses as a cleric that's friends with one of the main characters, but is actually the leader of a cult that worships a God of Evil.
    • Tanzy is eventually revealed to be this for Lianna, Ophilia's adoptive sister. She is rendered a broken wreck after losing her husband and becomes the Unwitting Pawn of a Manipulative Bitch. However, while Ophilia was eventually able to save Lianna from Mattias' false promises of Josef's resurrection, no-one suspects that anything is wrong with Tanzy before she does Arcanette's bidding. In fact, by the time the party finds out who Arcanette is, Tanzy is already deceased.

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